Lauren & Tracy
The exhibit contained research gems such as a board game from 1809 called Journey Round the Metropolis: An Amusing and Instructive Game with pictures of London sights and an 1811 book called Ellen or the Naughty Girl Reclaimed with instructional stories for children illustrated by cut out figures. I think a rather prosy relative will present the book to Jessica in one of my future novels. Jessica will enjoy playing with the cut outs but wrinkle her nose at the text.
The exhibit also included a print of a portrait Austen said was Jane Bennet Bingley. I’ve always loved the letter of Austen’s in which she talks about attending an exhibition and finding a portrait of Mrs. Bingley. She adds that she looked for a portrait of Mrs. Darcy but didn’t find one, which she puts that down to Mr. Darcy not wanting to let go of any portraits of her. What I love about this letter, as I told Lauren Willig, is that it shows Austen imagined her characters having a life outside the pages of her novels.
Which is just what Lauren and I were doing throughout my visit (including at a wonderful brunch at the Atlantic Grill in the picture above). Talking about our characters, their pasts, their interconnections, events we envisioned for them in the future. Questioning each other about spoilers for future books (fortunately neither of us minds knowing spoilers) and how various characters’ paths might cross. Of course we both write series, which lend themselves to this sort of speculation, but I’ve always loved continuing the stories of books I read in my head after I turn the last page. I think it’s one reason that the books I write have always been interconnected.
I love the idea of Austen looking for her characters among the paintings at an exhibition. Much as today we look for our characters while watching a movie or turning the pages of a magazine. Such as when I watched the recent adaptation of Little Dorrit and thought Matthew MacFadyen would make a wonderful Charles. Or thinking how like Mélanie Eva Green was in Casino Royale.
Do you find yourself discovering characters (your own or other writers) in movies or paintings or photographs? Writers, do you think about your characters ongoing lives after the story ends or between books in a series? Readers, do you do the same with books you read?
I’ve just posted a new Fraser Correspondence letter from Lord Carfax (David’s father and Charles’s spymaster) to the Foreign Secretary, Lord Castlereagh.
November 22, 2009 at 3:40 pm
One of the eeriest experiences I ever had was walking into a toy shop one Christmas season and seeing a doll–a beautiful collector’s model that looked exactly like the heroine I was writing at the time. Same hair color, same facial shape, same sweetly pensive expression–the only difference was the eye color, brown instead of grey. I couldn’t help wondering if the doll had been modeled on someone in particular but there was not, alas, enough information on her tag. (Just the price and that was enough to make me blench.)
I don’t generally model my own characters on actors–the image in my mind always comes first. But I do know that my Welsh hero combines aspects of Timothy Dalton and the young Richard Burton (in his pre-Liz years). And more recently, I discovered my heroine while watching an old episode of “The Muppet Show” of all things: the European model/actress Marisa Berenson was performing a dance with a troupe of animated feather boas. She wore a Victorian evening gown–very elegant and classy, but she was clearly having a wonderful time with her “partners.” And there was just something about her whole demeanor that reminded me of Sidonie, who is also elegant but doesn’t take herself too seriously.
It’s almost more common for me to find characters in songs and poems. Something about the lyrics or the story will resonate and my imagination takes over from there. My current heroine was partly inspired by the 19th century love song “Aura Lea” and the Tennyson poem, “The Sisters” and her hero by the rousing Cornish anthem “Trelawney.”
Re Characters’ Lives after the Last Page: I definitely imagine what happens next to my characters (or other writers’ characters), though my level of curiosity fluctuates in proportion to how deeply my emotions were invested. Some characters I know will be perfectly fine when I finish their story, and I don’t feel much impetus to check in on them that often. Others will have more “adventurous” lives, so my imagination keeps generating future scenarios for them. I suspect writers always generate more material on their characters than actually ends up on the printed page, so all that creative energy has to go somewhere!
November 22, 2009 at 6:19 pm
What an amazing story about the doll, Stephanie! Was she in the same era costume as the heroine in your book? Too bad the price was so “collectible” so you couldn’t bring her home for inspiration.
I do tend to consciously “cast” my books before I write or as I’m writing them, but even so I sometimes stumble across actors later who also seem perfect for the character (one of the nice things about mentally casting is one can have more than one actor for a part).
That’s an excellent point about the level of one’s curiosity about characters fluctuating with emotional investment. Some characters, though they may have a happy ending, clearly have further adventures in store for them. And then too one may simply care more about certain characters. With my own characters I also find myself thinking about scenarios from the past as well–their childhood, their parents’ lives. All of it may be fodder for a future book, but I’m not consciously plotting when I think about it, just imagining flashes from their lives.
November 22, 2009 at 6:55 pm
The doll was definitely “period”–she wore a high-waisted, dark red frock that could have fit seamlessly between the late Regency and the early Victorian eras (before the crinoline was inflicted on hapless females.) I should stop by the toy shop sometime and see if she’s still there. The price may still be prohibitive but inspiration is free.
November 22, 2009 at 7:13 pm
The doll’s costume sounds fabulous. I wonder if there’s a picture of her anywhere online or in a catalogue.
November 23, 2009 at 1:34 am
[...] than I, have put up their own posts about our Hoyden confab. You can find Tracy’s posts here and here, and Leslie’s [...]
November 25, 2009 at 3:55 am
If I’m still thinking about the characters in a book long after I’ve read the last page, that’s generally a sign the author has succeeded in creating living, breathing, 3-dimensional characters. That’s when I go online to post about the book or engage in e-mail exchanges, as I did with you several years ago about a major event in Elizabeth George’s Lynley series.
I’ve certainly seen photos or paintings or actors who make me think of a character in a book: On reading Mary Balogh’s “The Notorious Rake” I immediately pictured Daniel Day Lewis as Lord Edmond Waite. When I read “Atonement”, I thought Heath Ledger would make a perfect Robbie Turner. Much as I like James MacAvoy and think he’s totally adorable, he just doesn’t have the physical presence I thought Robbie should have. And I don’t see Michael MacFadyen as Charles. I like MacFadyen, but I think of Charles as having stronger features and coloring — an external expression of his passion and intelligence. Richard Armitage fits my image of Charles much better, but you are the author so you are certainly entitled to see whomever you like in the role.
December 16, 2009 at 8:53 am
I’m so sorry for the belated reply, Susan–somehow I missed the notification of your comment. Thanks so much for the thoughtful reply. I totally agree, when I’m really into the world of a book, I find myself imagining scenes after the story ends, and I talk endlessly with other readers. Elizabeth George is a great example of this (wrenching as that event was, it cried out for discussion). Dorothy Dunnett is another good example. So is Laurie King.
Love your thoughts on actors, especially since it goes to the idea I’m fascinated by that the reader plays an active role in shaping the story and everyone reads a slightly different book. I need to think about Heath Ledger as Robbie. He was a fabulous actor, but I actually envisioned Robbie as slighter an more angular when I read the book–more like James MacAvoy. In fact, “Atonement” is one of the few films that looked startlingly like the images I had in my head when I read the book.
However, I can definitely see Richard Armitage as Charles. It’s odd, because someone suggested him before and he didn’t seem right to me, but I was just watching “North & South” again while doing holiday stuff and suddenly it made sense to me (though John Thornton is a very different character from Charles).